Download Final Study Guide

Final Study Guide
1. What does the term “light year” really mean?
2. What is meant by the term “precession”?
3. Describe the relative positions of the earth, sun, and moon in space during
a) a total eclipse of the sun;
b) a total eclipse of the moon.
4. List and describe the various features observed in and above the
photosphere of the sun.
5. Name the various types of surface features on the moon and discuss their
nature and origin.
6. Discuss the main differences between the terrestrial planets and the Jovian
planets.
7. Describe Jupiter in terms of size, composition, rotation rate, atmosphere,
thermal radiations, and magnetic field.
8. Describe the evolution and deaths of the most massive stars, including Type
II supernovae and supernova remnants.
9. Discuss the differences between population I and population II stars.
10. State in your own words what the Hubble law really says and what its
implications are concerning the expansion of the universe.
11. Discuss our local neighborhoods in space including the names and
approximate sizes of our own objects. Neighborhoods include planets, stars,
galactic arms, galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, and universes.
12. Describe the meaning of “lookback time”.
13. Describe the coordinate system of the celestial sphere. What are the zenith,
horizon? How can you define a position of a celestial object?
14. Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?
15. Discuss Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion.
a) First law
b) Second law
c) Third law
16. Briefly mention the contributions of Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe,
Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Newton to astronomy.
17. Discuss the relationship of the aperture of a telescope and its
a) light-gathering power
b) resolving power
18. List the constituents of the electro-magnetic spectrum and discuss their
relative wavelengths and energies.
19. Draw a labeled sketch of the three layers of the sun.
20. What can the doppler effect tell us about stars and galaxies? How does this
work?
21. Compare and contrast elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies.
22. Discuss the process of differentiation, and how we can know about the
interior of the earth.
23. What is meant by the “runaway greenhouse effect” that makes Venus so
hot? How does it work?
24. Describe Uranus in terms of size, composition, appearance, rotation rate,
atmosphere, and magnetic field.
25. Describe the appearance and composition of asteroids, and their three major
locations in the solar system.
26. Discuss origin of the moon. What is the current theory?
27. Describe various surface features of four terrestrial planets. What can you
deduce from the features?
28. What is the most accurate way to determine the surface temperature of a
star?
29. Discuss the apparent magnitudes and luminosity of a star. How can
knowing both of them give us a star’s distance?
30. Describe characteristics of the main sequence stars.
31. Describe the stages in the formation of a new star.
32. Describe the nature and properties of a neutron star
33. What is meant by the terms “event horizon” and “Schwarzschild radius”
and what is their relation to the mass of a black hole?
34. What is meant by the “period luminosity relation” of the Cepheid variables,
and how can this be used as a distance indicator to the stars?
35. How are the spiral arms of the Milky Way detected, and what is their
nature?
36. How is the mass of the Milky Way measured, and how does this lead to the
concept of dark matter?
37. Describe the current explanation of quasars and their energy sources.
38. Briefly relate the early history of the universe, starting from 10-43 second.
39. What is CMB? Why is it so cold if the early universe was so hot?
40. Compare Copernicus’ heliocentric solar system with Ptolemy’s geocentric
solar system.
41. Describe and sketch the interior of Earth.
42. What is a dwarf planet? Name some of dwarf planets in the solar system.
43. What is an exoplanet (extrasolar planet)? How do we find extrasolar
planets?
44. Discuss the H-R diagram, what it plots, and where various kinds of stars are
located on the diagram.
45. Describe the characteristics of and differences between open and globular
clusters.
46. What is the observational evidence that something strange is happening in
the nucleus of our Galaxy, and what is the probable explanation?
47. What is the evidence for the existence of “dark energy”, and what are the
possible explanations for it?